


Echo in the Mirror

by Randomwords247



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: but i swear she is gonna be a main character, i do not know how often i will update this but i will attempt to do so semi-actively, lena does not appear straight away, may add characters as it goes on (am unsure how major anyone else will be as of right now), once she gets here. which idk might be a while XDD, webby gets knocked out, writing the triplets is fun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:14:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23725159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Randomwords247/pseuds/Randomwords247
Summary: Something's strange with Webby, and the triplets are determined to figure it out and see whether or not she's alright. Unfortunately, things may turn out to be much worse than they had first thought...
Comments: 10
Kudos: 19





	1. Replacement

It was binvintory day at McDuck Manor, a few months after the moon invasion had been resolved. The boys and Scrooge were out at the Money Bin, leaving Beakley and Webby alone in the manor.

Life had been crazy in the few months before the invasion, but had calmed down a lot more since it had happened. With Della's return, Webby saw a lot less of the triplets as they spent time with their long-lost mum, Dewey especially. It hurt her a bit to get used to - She only had them for about a year, she didn't want to be pushed away and lonely again. But she understood. The triplets had never met their mum before, of course they would want to spend time with her.

Della was actually family, afterall. Webby was merely the housekeeper's granddaughter. Too intense and too 'weird' to be family outside of the adventures. But she was okay with that. At least now there was no Magica, no shadow war, no moon invasions or threats. Just the adventures they went on and the family she lives with. What more could a duckling want?

In truth, there was quite a lot.

Webbigail Vanderquack craved information, yes. She was obsessed with learning about the McDuck family line, all of their ins and outs, the different Duck cousins and any sort of relation no matter how distant.

Yet she couldn't help but feel that, despite her extensive research and knowledge, she was missing something. So, that was what she was doing right now. Rather than go with the duck triplets and their Uncle and mother, as much as she loved them, she opted to instead brush up on her McDuck history, to try and figure out what this empty feeling could be.

"Besides", she sighed, "they deserve to have some time bonding with their mom and Donald. I can't get in the way all of the time.." 

It was a rather depressing way of thinking, granted, but it was one Webby often found herself burried in. Yes, Scrooge had before told her that she was family once, but no matter how many times she reminded herself, a very painful memory always found its way back into her mind

"This is a family matter- YOU are NOT family!"

She knew Mr McDuck was merely angry and panicking and overly emotional but.. He had never really apologised for this, or reaffirmed her place in the family. Often times she felt like an outcast in it - She only really had Beakley as her true family, yet she was much busier these days having to clean up and cook for a larger family than just the two of them and McDuck like before.

"At least I still have my research!!" she proclaimed proudly to herself, holding the book in her hands up high and shaking her head. "That's all I need to keep me occupied for now..!"

Webby continued wandering towards her room, admiring the large book about Scrooge in her hands She had grabbed it from the library on her way there, as she wanted to re-read it once more to try and take a few more notes, to figure out what exactly it was that she felt she was missing.

No one would bother her since only Beakley was home, and she was sure her granny was probably relaxing while she could with the mansion as quiet as it was. "It'll be hours probably before lunch, I have time to do some reading" she decided. Or at least, that was the plan at first.

Quiet footsteps trailed behind her, which did not go unnoticed.

"Ah ha!" she proclaimed, whirling around and pointing accusingly towards the sound, and... empty space. Webby looked on confused.

"Granny..?" she asked aloud, voicing her confusion. Usually Beakley and her would attempt to ambush each other as a game of training of sorts, so the fact that nobody appeared to be there perplexed her.

A creek behind her caused her to turn again, only to face nothing but an empty hall once more.  
"Is that you Granny..?" she asked, and huffed "This isn't funny!" Usually, Webby prided herself on being pretty good at being able to tell when someone's sneaking around, and who they are or where they are. But she couldn't seem to pinpoint their location this time around, and it frustrated her. Normally she was the one sneaking around, not someone else!

It couldn't be one of the triplets, that was for sure: Dewey was way too loud to be quiet enough to sneak around, Louie probably couldn't be bothered to try or wouldn't dare sneak up incase of injury, and Huey would be too rigid trying to stick to rules to do it properly. Not to mention none of the three even had training in doing so, and they were all out of the mansion anyways.

But who could it be then? Lena and Violet, from what she knew, were at their home, and she wasn't sure they would be able to sneak up on her either. The mystery was making her feel queesy, as the options for who it could be quickly dwindled.

"Who's there?" Webby called out to the dark, empty halls. She looked around uneasily, looking for anything that seemed out of place, or anything that moved.

A rustle altered her, and she span around, to see nothing had changed once again. "What's going on!? Who's there?? Answer me!!" she screamed in frustration, getting into a fighting stance.

The silence following each movement was putting her on edge, and Webby suddenly began wishing her Granny was nearby.  
Beakley would be able to find whoever this was without a problem.

She stood there, waiting, listening. Just as she was about to give up and run off to find Beakley, a different noise behind her caught her attention. Only, she had reacted too late, and was now against the wall, groaning in pain as a kick had thrown her against it. Webby looked up, trying to identify who, or what, had just attacked her.

A hooded figure stood in front of her.

Quickly Webby tried to get back onto her feet, dodging another blow from this strange figure, better prepared to defend now that she could see the attacker. She wiped a trickle of blood from her beak, staring at this foe, before lunging into an attack herself.

Jumping into a kick, the enemy ducked and grabbed her leg, throwing her aside once more, only for her to force herself back up and engage with a fist fight.

Webby swung, jabbed and left hooked the figure, but no matter what she tried every punch she threw was either blocked or dodged. This frustrated Webby more and more, as her heart pounded faster and faster from the adrenaline pumping through her veins.

"Get! Out! Of!! My!! Home!!!" she screamed loudly, before swinging a powerful right hook and finally managing to make proper contact, hitting the attacker right in the jaw and knocking them backwards a few feet.

Nothing prepared her for what she saw next, however.

The figure's hood dropped as they stumbled back, and Webby froze as she looked on in shock. Was she dreaming? Looking into a mirror? Was this some sort of alternate dimension traveller?

There was a pause. Both stopped and stared. Webby couldn't believe her eyes as she continued to look at the figure with her jaw dropped.

A mirror image stared back. But it couldn't be real, could it? The figure looked emotionless as the staring contest seemed to continue.

Shaking her head, Webby stepped back, before turning and attempting to run. This couldn't be real. She had to get Beakley.

"Granny!! Granny!!!" she cried out, before a blow to her head knocked her to the ground. She groaned once more from the pain and looked up in time to see her doppleganger take out a gas gun and fire it at her. She looked up into those emotionless eyes as the figure spoke;

"Goodnight, 'Webbigail'"

And then everything went black.  
\----  
"Webby, is everything alright? I heard you shouting for me"

Webby looked up at the older figure besides her, straightening her posture and smiling softly

"Oh yes granny. I just heard something and thought it was you, but you weren't there". Beakley looked down at the girl for a moment, analysing her and looking to see whether or not she was lying.  
Webby wasn't exactly a good liar - In fact, she was terrible. And Beakley, being her grandmother, knew more than anyone how to tell if she was lying or not, even though it was usually pretty easy to see regardless.

So, when it seemed as though she was telling the truth, Beakley relaxed "Alright, if you're sure. Dinner will be ready in an hour, if you want to come and help set the table" the agent began, but Webby stopped her. She picked up the previously discarded book from off the floor and stood straight "I just need to go and drop this off in my room, I'll catch up!!"

Beakley sighed, but smiled at her anyways "Alright, I'll see you downstairs. Don't be too long now" she said as she walked away, the young duckling watching after her.

As soon as she was out of sight and earshot, however Webby smirked.

The duckling carelessly dropped the book once again, and silently entered a nearby abandoned room after checking and reaffirming that the hall's camera was still deactivated. She looked over at an unconscious, yet identical looking duckling, slightly bruised and beat up with a bloody beak from her first strike, but still breathing nonetheless.

"Now wasn't that easy? 'You need to take utmost care to do this Winnie', it doesn't seem so hard! Shame you're not awake for it Webbigail", the doppleganger, 'Winnie', laughed in disbelief.

"I really didn't think it'd play out so well. But don't worry, I'm sure you'll be alright" she reasoned, patting the other girl on the head. Winnie gave her a bittersweet smile as she hauled her up. "She'll be fine, I'm sure..."

\---

Dinner went fairly smoothly if she did say so herself. Beakley seemed rather happy, Launchpad keeping her mostly occupied as 'Webby' ate relatively undisturbed.

Neither of the two appeared to suspect anything thus far, so everything was going perfectly. They spent most of it talking about some kind of... Superhero? 'Dratwing Duck' or something like that? Needless to say, Winnie stopped paying attention shortly after she realised it was fictional.

As soon as she saw an all clear to leave, Winnie booked it to get out of there. It was almost mind numbing to listen to, especially when she had more important things to do.

Now, at least, she was free from that, and could focus on her task. With book in hand, which she had neglected to actually move before, Winnie made her way to Webbigail's bedroom.

Or at least, she tried to.

If there was one thing McDuck manor succeeded in being, it was a maze to those who were unfamiliar with its layout. It took well over half an hour for Winnie to actually find the right room, and once she did she wasn't even sure what to think.

"Whoa..." she whistled, walking in gingerly. It was much larger than she was expecting, and much more personalised.

Different objects were hanging from the ceiling and strewn across the floor and walls, and large bookshelves filled mostly with non-book related items adorned one of the walls quite nicely.

The one thing which stuck out to her most, however, was the massive corkboard proudly displayed in the centre of the wall on her left, which Winnie couldn't help but look at more closely.

She walked over, carefully placing the book in her hands aside as she made her way over, admiring the board in front of her. It had most certainly had a lot of work and effort put into it, covered in information and people.

Even Mrs. Beakley were up there on the board, despite it being clearly centred around Scrooge McDuck.

"I wonder why she doesn't have a picture of herself up..." she mumbled, looking at the crudely drawn picture with 'ME' at the bottom. Even Beakley had an actual picture up besides the drawing, so why not herself as well?

The longer she examined the board, the more questions she felt coming on. "What I wouldn't give to be able to ask her about all of this..." she muttered.

"It's a bit late for that though, huh." Winnie decided, shaking her head. She had more important things to do anyways.

So, with a heavy sigh, Winnie tore herself away from the board and started scanning the books present on the shelves, landing on a red cover in particular. 'The Secret Files of Webbigail Vanderquack' was handwritten on the front.

Finding a place to sit comfortably, she carefully opened up the cover, trying to avoid getting too much glitter stuck on her hands.

"This is as good a place as any to start with"  
\---

"Aw come on Huey, it was funny!"

"No, it was not, Dewford!" Huey complained, squeezing his hat wring the water out of it as he walked alongside Dewey. Louie trailed behind them, looking at his phone as he walked calmly.

"Hey guys!" Winnie greeted, running up to them, "how was it?"

"Take it this way," Louie began as he looked up from his phone, "Mom ditched us ten minutes into it because it was so boring and Dewey got so desperate that he filled and pelted Huey with water balloons that he had lying around for some reason"

"Aw c'mon guys it was funny!!" Dewey laughed

Huey merely gave his brother a look as he placed his still-wet hat back onto his head "you couldn't be more wrong if you tried"

As the brothers continued to bicker over the matter, Winnie starred in minor exasperation, not having anticipated them being like this at all for some reason.

"Uhh... riiight, sounds like an interesting time." she laughed nervously, before continuing "so anyways I wanted to just-" however, before Winnie could finish, she was interrupted by a loud call

"Everyone!! Pack your bags, tomorrow we adventure!" Scrooge loudly proclaimed as he ran in the room, wielding a map. Not having a moment to lose, he continued to run past the kids and over to Beakley, starting quickly to discuss the provision and plan for the next day.

Winnie looked between the triplets and Scrooge with confusion. "Wait but... already???" she asked confused

"Of course!! Let's go guys come on!" Dewey excitedly called out as he ran to his room to begin packing. Louie followed suite, albeit at a much slower walk speed than his brother, as Huey remained in the room with the others.

Confused, he questioned "What do you mean already? It's been at least two weeks since we went anywhere, if you don't count the woodchucks". This caught Winnie off guard, and she froze for a moment of brief panic. Oh shoot, she hadn't meant to slip up so soon.

"Y-yeah I know!" she quickly agreed, before adding "but I figured the next adventure would be one of the lost legends, and we only got that journal yesterday like you said!"

"True-" Huey hmmed in agreement, before being interrupted by Scrooge once more "-It'll be a while before we go on an adventure pending to the journal lass, I hate to break it to you. We still have to figure out the clues Isabella left to know where their locations may be." Huey seemed to think this made enough sense to leave the matter, and, having already heard the speech Scrooge was about to give, decided to join his brothers in packing up.

Scrooge, unfazed by the smaller audience, continued on "While we were counting me money, I was re-examining one of my older discoveries and found a hidden treasure map to: The Legendary Owl of Athena!"

Winnie 'ooh'd in response, and signalled for him to continue.

"We leave as soon as possible tomorrow morning! Pack your things and make sure to get some sleep lass! You'll need it for the expedition for certain Webbigail" Scrooge finished, adding as he began to make his way to his study "Beakley, please make sure we have provisions for the trip! I don't know how many days it might take"

Beakley gave a sigh in agreement, and waited for the room to be empty before turning to Winnie, her stern face turning soft, and concerned

"Is everything alright dear? You're usually more excited for this adventures" she asked, kneeling down and placing a hand on Winnie's shoulder. The girl looked up at her elder, almost confused. She wasn't expecting her to be so soft to her, especially since she hadn't really been this soft to anyone else, as far as Winnie could tell at least.

Quickly, and quietly, she answered her. "Of course I'm excited! I just... thought our next adventure would be one of the lost legends, and I guess I'm just a little sad that it's not" she shrugged as she scratched her neck, looking away. It was almost scary looking into Beakley's eyes so close up, a feeling as though all her secrets would suddenly be stolen away and brought to light under the soft and caring gaze.

Beakley sighed as she looked at the younger duck.

"I understand you were excited, but even Isabella herself couldn't figure out all the clues she'd left to find their locations." she explained, solemnly.

"It may take Scrooge a while to figure it out, and even then there's always uncertainty and the small possibility of someone having found the legend first. I just don't want you to be disappointed dear"

Winnie sighed, before looking up at the elderly duck and giving her a small smile. "Alright Granny, I understand. Thanks.."

"Alright" Beakley leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on her forehead, before standing up to leave herself "You better join the others and pack for the trip darling - just make sure not to stay up too late, alright?" With that, she left to prepare provisions for the family, leaving Winnie alone.

Winnie stood, unmoving for what felt like forever, her hand slowly raising and lightly touching where Beakley had kissed her. She hadn't ever had someone act like that towards her before, not that softly.

Breaking herself free of her thoughts, Winnie shook her head and proceeded to make her way back to her room. "No-" she reminded herself "-Webby's room".

Afterall, Winnie had a trip to pack for, she supposed


	2. Adventure's Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The family begin their journey to find the legendary Owl of Athena.

The Sunchaser's engines roared as it soared through the sky, through the morning dew.

Della was piloting, with Donald hanging around the cockpit talking with his twin, and helping to co-pilot when it was necessary. Scrooge, besides them, was busy examining the map and the route they were flying through, and seemed to be preparing something.

In the back, the triplets were busy talking about the adventure awaiting them, each of them with varying degrees of excitement.

"Just think of what this could be! According to the JWG, Athena was a goddess of wisdom. So, the 'Owl of Athena' could be a well of knowledge just out there waiting!" Huey gushed, his guidebook in hand

"Eh," Louie shrugged, "so long as it's worth something and not too hard to get."

Dewey definitely didn't seem to agree with him there.

"Aw c'mon Louie! This is gonna be great!!" excitement coursed through the blue duck as he was practically bouncing in his seat. "Another adventure for the Duck family! Will they survive!? What mysteries await them!?"

Huey chimed in "What secrets will they uncover?"

"And what evils will await them on the other side?" Louie added, mocking his brother's excited tone, before sighing, “Hoo boy.”

Dewey cheered at them both, and the three continued to talk as their voices drowned out for the girl in the back.

Sitting alone a ways away from the others was Winnie, who wasn't exactly that involved in the triplets' conversation. The adventure was in no means her main concern, and she wasn't overly focused on it to say the least.

Which, in truth, was an understatement, as the girl was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't notice Dewey attempting to talk to her until he was directly in front of her line of sight.

Waving, he asked "Hey Webbs, are you feeling okay? You don't seem too good"

Her first thought?

'Shoot.'

With how everyone had been talking amongst themselves, she had assumed they normally kept to specific groups. Evidently, she had been mistaken.

Quickly, to avoid too much suspicion growing, she attempted to express excitement with a "Yeah!" and gave him a smile. "I just hope we get there soon, this journey's been pretty long"

A rushed excuse, granted, but one she figured would work on the blue one - and besides, it wasn't exactly a lie either. They had been flying for about eight hours now, and although most of the family, barring Della of course who was flying, had slept for part of that time, they were all pretty eager to get to the actual adventure part.

"Oh, well, okay then!" he seemed hesitant, but was hopefully convinced enough "I'm, gonna go see how Mom's doing and ask her when we'll get there, I'll catch up with you later!"

Winnie, in an attempt to show more of the 'Webby Enthusiasm', grinned at him and gave him two thumbs up with an excited "See ya!". Watching him smile back before running off, Winnie felt fairly confident that she had, in fact, swayed him to believing her. But she knew she couldn't let herself slip up again.

'I need to keep this enthusiasm up if I don't want anyone else getting suspicious', she reasoned to herself. She only had to keep up the act for as long as was necessary

\-------

Dewey wasn't as easily fooled as Winnie believed, however. He remained concerned about ''Webby'', who had been quiet all throughout the journey when she wasn't sleeping, and had kept to herself rather than with a group.

It wasn't like her to act like this before an adventure, and she wondered if she was alright.

She almost seemed... indifferent to the adventure, which was startling to the blue duck, as Webby was almost always the most excited and energetic out of everyone during most of their adventures.

"Did something happen in the night?? Maybe she's not well??" Dewey wasn't sure, but he would certainly mention this to his brothers when the opportunity arose.

In the meantime, there was another option for expressing his concern.

"Hey Mom!" Dewey ran over to Della with a grin.

Matching his enthusiasm, Della responded with "Hey there Dewey!! Everything alright?"

"Yeah!! Do you know how long we'll be until we land?"

Della tapped her beak as she hummed in thought, "Shouldn't be too long probably, within an hour? How come?"

"Oh I just wanted to ask for Webby" he said, concern evident in his voice, "she doesn't seem too good, she's barely talked through the trip". It was quite clear to Della that he was worried for her.

"Oh hm that does seem weird. Maybe try talking to your brothers about it for now?" she offered, before adding "I'll see if I can have a chat with her at any point to see if anything's wrong, but maybe she's just tired."

That seemed to help the blue boy perk up a bit "Oh thanks mom!" he said as he grinned up at her

She ruffled his hair and smiled at him "Of course honey"

Before he could reply back, a loud voice announced "EVERYONE! We're approaching!", interrupting him and causing the others to pause what they were doing to pay attention.

Scrooge was standing by Della and Donald with his arms raised up, as he began his monologue speech

"The legendary Owl of Athena, we're at last coming near!" cheers followed this, as Scrooge continued "Legend has it this Owl was created by the goddess Athena herself as a pool of her wisdom and knowledge for mortals to turn to"

Huey perked up at this "She wanted to use it to bestow her knowledge to those who had need of it!"

"Exactly lad!" Scrooge affirmed "The Owl was a source of infinite wisdom and knowledge! Anyone who had questions or sought answers could find them with the Owl!"

At this, Winnie began to pay close attention to his words

"However," Scrooge continued, "some began to want this infinite wisdom to themselves. Threatened by thieves and pirates who were going to steal and sell it for high price, and fearing that the Owl may fall into the wrong hands, Athena took the Owl and ran to hide it"

A loud 'Ooo' sounded at this as the children watched, waiting for him to continue

"Many have tried to find this great token, and many have failed. As legend has it, this great Owl will grant those who have sought it the knowledge they seek, answer any questions! Just think of all the untold mysteries we could find with it!" he finished with a grin

" _Any_ questions??? And it'll know the answer? Just like that?" Winnie asked, expressing her genuine excitement.

"That's right lass!" he confirmed once more. "This discovery could change our adventures as we know it! Della, take us in to land!"

At that, everyone cheered as the pilot flew over as she closed in, landing the sunchaser down besides...

"A... mountain? But, where's the adventure?" disappointment seeped into Dewey's voice as he looked out at their destination. It was just a normal, boring, mountain.

The Scottish duck merely chuckled "Och lad, if it was just a mountain we wouldn't have flown out all this way. For you see Dewey..." he brought Dewey out of the plane, the rest of the family behind them, and gestured towards a fairly hidden cave entrance "Even the smallest mountains harbour their own secrets"

Turning to the rest of the group, Scrooge proclaimed "Everyone! Follow me! To the cave we go!"

As they walked, Huey, confused towards the facts, asked "How is there a map if Athena hid the owl away?"

"Eehh that's the part that gets a little lost" Scrooge admitted, "I'm not quite sure on that lad. It seems as though some thieves or pirates may have found where she had hidden the Owl and drawn up a map which they hid among their other treasure, or they hid a copy at least, and died trying to retrieve the treasure."

"Soooo... How do we know we'll get out of here alive then?" Louie added, looking skeptical

"Because lad, we're smarter than a bunch of thieves!" his uncle waved a hand dismissively at him as he prepared a torch to burn, before changing the subject entirely "Alright! Everyone, watch your steps and keep close. We don't know what's waiting for us inside"

The family followed Scrooge closely, while Winnie followed at more of a distance, lagging behind slightly and examining the surroundings much closer.

At first glance, the further they travelled through the cave, the more it looked like... Cave. There wasn't anything that appeared different about it, and it just kept going on as an endless cave.

However, Winnie began to notice something change as they continued to walk. There appeared to be some sort of markings, etched into the cave's walls. From afar, they merely looked like they were part of the rock itself, but upon further inspection, these markings appeared fairly deliberate.

"What could these mean...?" she mumbled quietly, tracing over some of the markings. "Are they some sort of code? A language I haven't encountered before?"

Quickly, Winnie glanced over at the family, who seemed thoroughly occupied and distracted. "Well, whatever they are, they might be important. But I can't share this with anyone, it could be something that tips the game in my favour" she decided, pulling out Webby's book and quickly beginning to carefully copy them down, taking photographs alongside this wherever possible.

\---

Unbeknownst to Winnie, however, she wasn't as invisible or forgotten as she had hoped. While Winnie was busy lagging behind, the triplets had begun talking about her as they walked.

"Hey, Huey? Louie?" Dewey began, grabbing his brothers' attention and causing them both to pause. "Have you guys noticed anything different about Webby today? She's seemed less... well. 'Webby' than usual"

"She has certainly seemed quietly" Huey agreed

Louie nodded, and added on "and she didn't seem that excited for today's adventure last night." before reasoning "Maybe she was just expecting something else? She seemed a lot more invested when Uncle Scrooge was talking about it"

"Yeah but Webby's always invested when Scrooge talks, don't you remember how much she looks up to him?" Dewey argued back

The red duck hmm'd in thought for a moment before he spoke again. "Well she did say after you left that she was hoping for one of the missing mystery adventures next. Maybe it's just disappointment"

Before Dewey could reply to that, he added "But it does seem weird that she's so down from it. Did anything happen yesterday between her and Lena maybe?"

It was a plausible option that the other two hadn't considered yet, and one which might have had some ground towards it being true.

"I'm not so sure" the blue duck admitted after a pause, "I never thought to ask what she was planning on doing while we were out, or what she actually got up to"

"So, we know something might be wrong, but we have no idea what." Louie noted "Shouldn't we talk to her about it?"

Dewey shook his head at this, answering "Mom said that she would talk to her later. And besides, I already asked her and she said she it was just the journey taking a while" 

"That might mean it's something she doesn't want to talk about-" Huey pulled out his guidebook and flipped through it "-but it also might just mean that that's all it is. Or, Webby doesn't want to talk about it yet"

"Webby still isn't the best at people stuff" Louie agreed, "she's better than when we first met but if something bad happened she'll probably find it hard to talk about."

The blue duck seemed to agree with this "Webby never did talk about everything with Lena with any of us until after she'd rescued her..."

The triplets all walked for a bit, each giving the situation some thought

"I'd say we keep an eye on her for now until mom manages to talk to her. See what comes from that, and if it's nothing or she seems fine, then ease up" the green duck put forward, and the others considered it for a moment.

"You're right." Huey agreed "If mom doesn't think anything is up but she still seems odd, we can all talk with her together. But until then, we just keep a closer watch and make sure everythings alright"

Dewey was the last to agree, having to give it a bit more consideration "Yeah, you're right. Maybe it's another Webby thing we don't know about-"

"Maybe what's another me thing?"

"AAAH!"

A loud scream emanated from all three ducklings at the sudden intrusion. Louie covered his face, Huey held on tight to his book, and Dewey blindly tried to swing his arms around in some sort of fighting move. "YOU WON'T GET ME OR MY BROTHERS!" he screamed.

"Uhh... Dewey, it's me" Winnie said, confused, avoiding his attempts at an attack. "What were you guys talking about? I heard my name"

"The adventure-!" "-how we're worried!" a glare from the other two caused a quick correction of "I-I mean yeah the adventure!" from Huey.

Winnie blinked at them "Riiiight..." she said, slowly, before pointing to the family far in front "well we're not doing much adventuring back here sillies. Come on already! Race ya there!" her enthusiasm came back in full swing as she grinned at them, pushing past and running ahead of them despite their cries of "WAIT UP!"

It seemed like a good idea at the time, bring back the enthusiasm and run to try and appear more convincing as Webby. Hindsight, however, is a marvelous thing.

As she ran, she wasn't exactly paying as much attention as to where her feet were landing than she admittedly should have been, and, as a result of this carelessness, stood right on a trap panel just as Scrooge yelled "DON'T RUN LASS-!" back at her

The ground beneath her suddenly began to shake and open up to a spike pit. At this, Winnie's fake enthusiasm was quickly replaced with adrenaline as she ran as fast as she could to get to safety before the ground was completely torn from under her feet.

In a brief moment of panic, Winnie jumped in hopes of making it all the way. However, she had misjudged her jump, just about managing to grab the ledge as she fell. But even this appeared to be hopeless, as her grip began to slip

"HELP-!" she screamed loudly, voice laced with fear.

"I GOT YOU!" a cry responded, Della holding on tightly to her hand which she had managed to reach just in the nick of time. Quickly, before she herself lost balance, she pulled the young duck up to safety.

"MY BOYS!" Donald cried out, Huey, Dewey and Louie all stuck on the other side of the spike trap. "Are you boys alright?" Scrooge called out to them, him and Donald beginning to work on figuring out how to get across, as Della confronted the panting girl besides her.

"What were you all doing back there?? Scrooge said to keep together, you all know how dangerous these places can be!" Della reasoned. Although at first glance it appeared that Della was angry, the concern and worry in her voice seemed very clear to Winnie.

She'd scared her.

Della was scared, worried even, for her. It was almost a warm feeling.

Until she remembered. No. Della wasn't worried for _her_ . She was worried for _Webby_. The older duck believed she was Webby, afterall.

Trying not to let her newfound bitterness control her, and resolving to keep the wall markings a secret unless absolutely necessary, Winnie attempted to answer as her adrenaline rush began to calm.

"I-I thought I saw another route back there, but it was just a crack," she lied, adding on "Huey, Dewey and Louie were lagging behind too, I was trying to get them to catch up as well"

"And we'll have to figure out a way to get them across as a result" Scrooge mused, inspecting the pit and looking for any way to get around, or close it back up.

Winnie, now calmer and remembering the backpack she had, stood up while proclaiming "I got it!" as she got out Webby's grappling hook. Quickly, before anyone could stop her, she fired it out at some stalagmites and swung across to the triplets.

"No, don't run off again!! That is the opposite of what we need right now!"

"Come on guys, grab on!" Winnie told the trio as she landed besides them. If it weren't for her panicking she probably would have thought to use the grappling hook to get herself out of the mess before, but at least she could prove herself and use it now. Once the triplets had all grabbed her, and each other's hands, she ran and jumped, swinging back over to the other side.

"I got them across" she said nonchalantly, after landing.

"You shouldn't have run off without a plan!" Della argued, pointing to the ceiling "That could've been unstable or weak in structure, it might not have been able to take your weight and broken off. You ran off without thinking!" she reprimanded

"Och, don't be so hard on her lass," Scrooge intervened, putting his hand on his niece's shoulder. "You know what Webbigail's like - She would've been fine. The important thing is that they're all over here safe"

Della sighed, but agreed "You're right. I'm sorry for yelling, but can we all please try and be more careful?"

"Yes mom," the triplets chorused, as Winnie mumbled "Yes Della", using it to let go of her held breath without anyone noticing. Although she would never show it, she felt fear reign through her as Della began to raise her voice, and Scrooge's interruption felt like a saving grace.

"Alright then, it's settled-" as he spoke, Scrooge began to walk ahead once more "-No more walking aimlessly into traps from here on out-" _click._

Everyone slowly turned their heads towards Scrooge, as a loud rumbling sounded out.

"Ah. That one was me. We should probably start running"

Before they could run far enough, however, the floor came loose beneath the family. Screams rang out as they fell a ways down into a closed off room. Although it wasn't a spike pit as the previous trap, the room certainly was determined to end the family.

"Uuuh, guys, is it just me or is the ceiling getting closer?" the blue triplet asked, looking around with uncertainty

True to his observation, it was indeed coming closer.

"We need to get out of here!!" Donald yelled, followed up by his sister arguing "No, what we need is a plan!"

The two, joined by Scrooge and the triplets, continued to argue about what to do, yelling about what to do or how to get out before it was too late.

Taking this well needed distraction away from her, Winnie escaped into a corner, hyperventilating and mumbling to herself in panic as she attempted to search the walls for any sort of exit or secret passage. It was a small hope, but it was all she had.

"This family is insane!!" she whisper-shouted, pulling at her hair, "I certainly won't miss this craziness."

She continued to mutter beneath her breath as the family grew louder, attempting to ignore them and focus on her search. Surely there had to be some kind of hidden passage way out-

"Wait a minute..." she mumbled, pausing and looking closer at the wall. "These markings on the wall, are they.. Patterns? But they're different from the ones before. I wonder if..." Winnie glanced around the room, looking to see if there were any similar markings throughout the room.

True to her theory, there were many different markings on all of the walls throughout the room, each one appearing to have a different symbol upon it. All of which appeared to be within the patterns in front of her. Almost as though....

"Uh, guys?? I think I've found something" Winnie called out, waiting for a response. None. The duck twins still seemed to be arguing pretty loudly, with the triplets and Scrooge doing a bad job of stopping it.

"Guuys???" she called again, looking back to them with mild irritation. Groaning, she yelled out much louder this time.

"GUYS!!!"

"WHAT!?" they yelled back, both turning to her. Well, at least she had their attention.

"Look!!! I think I found a way out!" she explained, exasperated, pointing to the markings on the wall. "There's all of these symbols on different wall tiles throughout the room, and all of the symbols are in this pattern"

Scrooge looked on impressed "Bless me bagpipes, Webbigail might be onto something!"

"Maybe it's that then! We press them in order!" Huey added on "Webby, you read out the order of the tiles! Everyone else, try and find the ones she describes!"

Everyone got into position, and Winnie began to call out the shots.

"The first one looks sort of like.. An ant's head? Does anyone have that?" she called out, and back came the reply from the red capped duck "I see it!"

Huey ran over and pressed on the tile, and indeed, it pressed into the wall, and he held it there, giving Winnie a thumbs up as a signal for her to continue.

"I think it... Might be a top down view of a pig's head? Does anyone see something like that?"

"Oh oh I think I see it!" Dewey called back excitedly, rushing over and pressing it in.

Quickly Winnie examined the next symbol. It looked like... "it's some kind of snake next!"

Louie casually leaned against the tile besides him, resting against it and responding with a "Got it"

"Now a bear claw!"

Della was the one to find this one "What's next Webby?"

"It's an elephant head!" she continued

"I found it!" Donald answered

Winnie nodded and looked back, "next is a turtle!". Scrooge quickly found it "I got it lass! Any others?"

"It looks like a kind of owl! Anyone see it?"

Everyone looked around, conferring between each other. However... Nobody could spot any other tiles with any kind of symbols on them, let alone an owl symbol.

"It doesn't look like there is any." Huey confessed, followed up by his blue clad brother asking "Are you sure we did this in the right order? Nothing happened"

Winnie stared at the pattern in confusion "What? But there's still another one left. This... Owl like, symbol. Are you sure you can't see it anywhere?" she questioned.

"None that I can see" Donald answered, and the rest murmured out their agreements.

"What?? But. But this doesn't make any sense, there has to be one more!" she argued, glancing around the room. The ceiling was quickly approaching.

"What if that _is_ the tile?" Huey suggested, looking thoughtful. "Try pressing it Webby! Maybe it's some kind of way to test critical thinking!" Della agreed, looking at the girl with determination

Winnie was almost about to argue that it didn't make sense to her, but held her tongue. Never question those above you. She learnt that lesson the hard way.

So, not willing to find out what would happen if she argued against orders, and running out of options anyways, Winnie pressed down on to the final tile. And, to her surprise, it pushed inwards like the rest of them.

The wall began to shake, prompting Winnie to react by yelping and flinching backwards, as a door opened within it. The ceiling however continued to fall, almost seeming to go faster, and the door itself was slowly beginning to close once more. They didn't have long to go.

"Everyone quick, through the door!" Donald cried out, grabbing the triplets and running to get them to safety and get out. Nobody argued with that, everyone running to jump through the door before it closed. Winnie was the last to jump out, wanting to quickly snap a picture of the different symbols before she escaped. You never knew what could be useful information down the line, after all.

Quickly, she ran and jumped through the door before it could close, and Winnie sat on the other side, breathing heavily. The others were in a sort of pile, in similar conditions to her.

"WE'RE ALIVE! WE DID IT!" Dewey cheered, his arms held high and his expression one of pure delight. "That was fun!"

"Fun!? We could've died there Dewey!" Louie argued, prompted a smile from his brother "Exactly! I knew we could dewey it though and get out alive!"

Choosing to ignore his brothers, Huey got up and walked over to Winnie, smiling at her. "That was some really good thinking back there looking around for patterns on the wall Webby, nice going!" he congratulated.

Winnie, unsure how to respond, rubbed her arm slightly "Oh uh... Thanks, De- uh, Huey."

"Aye, that's the Webbigail I know! Always looking too deep into things and figuring out the obscure!" Scrooge laughed, rubbing her head. "Alright then everyone, let's carry on then!"

Donald seemed to be musing over the situation, speaking up before they began to move again, "maybe this was meant to be a secret passageway to the treasure."

Della joined in with her twin brother, "he could be right! It was almost like a test of whether you could think of the solution to something efficiently with only a few facts to go off. Like critical thinking!" she proclaimed again.

"Well, this does seem to lead somewhere for sure-" Huey added in, before pointing to the passage ahead of them "-but it seems like there might be more to test than just that..."

Ahead of them, the tunnel branched off into three separate passageways.

"Hmm. Well, there's only one way to decipher which way to go!" Scrooge decided. "We have to split up! Huey, you can come with me, Donald you take Dewey and Webby-"

"-Actually, I'd like to go with Webby" Della interrupted, looking towards the bowed girl. Winnie was glad Della couldn't hear the gulp she definitely let out. "It could be a nice bonding experience, y'know?" she reasoned, giving her uncle a cheesy grin as she shrugged in defense.

Scrooge shrugged, "Alright then, Della you take Webby, and Donald you take Dewey and Louie. Everything settled?"

"W-Well I-" Winnie began, but was interrupted by Scrooge continuing "No? Well alright then, come along Huey!"

The girl sighed, but began to follow Della towards the branching paths.

Before they came to the proper split, Donald spoke up "Remember," he began, "if there's any sign of danger, we turn back"

"Och, don't be such a baby Donald, I'm sure we can all handle any problems" Scrooge laughed, waving off his request.

"He does have a point though, we should at least try and keep updated with each other, just in case anything happens" reasoned the red duck, getting out his JWG. "Statistically speaking, it would be safer in case of emergency if we kept tabs on each other regularly, to know whether or not anything bad happened"

Seeing his point, Scrooge nodded "Alright then, we'll keep in touch. Onwards, lad!" and the two began to journey down the path to the left

Donald, Louie and Dewey continued down the path on the right, leaving Webby and Della the middle pathway.

"Alright then kiddo, we better get a move on. C'mon, this'll be fun I'm sure!"

Winnie wasn't so sure. But, it wasn't like she had much of a choice, so she followed suit, walking besides the adult.

In truth, Della wanted to use this opportunity to check in on Webby and talk to her, like she had promised Dewey back on the plane. She did seem a little taken aback, but Della didn't know the girl as well as the others, so she wasn't sure if it were a problem or not.

How to bring up the conversation or talk to her? Now, that was something Della wasn't sure about. She just had to figure it out before they reached the tunnels end...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiiii everyone! So uh. I'm not dead kjahsdkjasd. I am super duper sorry for taking four months to update this, like gosh I didn't mean to spend so long on the next chapter.  
> I hit a few roadbumps while outlining the chapter, and then kept hitting roadbumps and blocks while writing on how to fully flesh out scenes ^^''. It didn't help that I lost all what I'd written about a quarter way through the chapter and had to rewrite it all from scratch barring one scene, which really put a dent in my motivation for a while.
> 
> Buuuut its here!! Hopefully I won't be as long for the next chapter(?) no promises though but I can try akjshdkajdsh. Either way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! My favourite part of writing it was probably when all the triplets were talking amongst themselves, and when Winnie was alone and having her own mini investigation almost khaskjhasd, those were fun to write.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed =D!

**Author's Note:**

> Hi Everyone!!! This is my first time writing anything in about 2 years and for the first half of this chapter I wasn't sure how to go about writing it, and put it off a lot...  
> Thankfully I have figured out something which kind of works for me, so! Hopefully that'll mean I can write it faster/also hopefully write better???
> 
> Anyways sorry if this chapter's a little fast paced, I wasn't sure how to go about it too well and was scared of padding it out with too much rambling. Hope you enjoy it anyways!!! :DDD


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